The Exorcist is a movie I think is brilliant and great, but I have no desire to see it again or at least for a very long time. The last time was when it was theatrically re-released and I'm still not exactly hankering for a rewatch.

This movie owns on so many levels. I like Exorcist III and Dominion quite a bit too.

It was weird how today sometimes Exorcist III is released as Legion: Sequel to the Exorcist (which is what it literally is, Legion is the sequel novel the movie is based on) and Paul Schrader's original Exorcist: The Beginning cut was released as Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist. But a good way to elevate and separate two good movies from the horrible Exorcist II: The Heretic and Exorcist: The Beginning.

I still can't believe they thought it was a good idea to spend the $$$ to re-film the movie with a new director and some different characters, but then get Renny Harlin to direct it. Massive waste of everyone's time. Then after massive negative feedback they dumped Schrader's cut onto home video anyway as Dominion. I really hate that Harlin's cut has Vittorio Storaro's cinematography while Dominion does not.

Really wish I could have seen this back when it first came out in theaters. I can only imagine the reactions of the audience. HAD to have been super extreme and crass for the time...even watching it decades later I was shocked by some of the content. Cross masturbation included.

Fans of the film and Friedkin in general really need to listen to Friedkin do the audiobook of his autobiography (The Friedkin Connection) for some fun Exorcist stories, like how he basically had mobsters sent to shut down pirated screenings of the film and the whole story of the Pazuzu statue disappearing in transit.

Not surprisingly, the section of the book dealing with The Exorcist is far and away the most interesting (although I was greatly amused by his stories of what it was like working with Pacino: "he's on ... Al Pacino time").

Lol the first time I saw this I was like 13, on a skiing trip with my dad and siblings. The blockbuster numbered the case for the tape 666, and the power to our cabin went out in the middle of the film (there was a storm outside).

I have a buddy who was so terrified of this as a kid, that he's still afraid of Linda Blair.

Some years back we were at a halloween thing and she was there signing autographs , (no makeup, etc, just regular Linda Blair) and he wouldn't go anywhere NEAR that area. He was like nope the gently caress out

I've always loved that movie. I don't think it's as "visually" scary as it was when it was first released. But it's definitely creepy and it stays with you. It stands up pretty well even now.

All I think of when I think of "Exorcist II: The heretic" is that stupid overlay thing they did with possessed Regan from the first movie. Soooo dumb.....

All I think of when I think of "Exorcist II: The heretic" is that stupid overlay thing they did with possessed Regan from the first movie. Soooo dumb.....

I've never really heard anything positive said about Exorcist II, but I've watched it twice over the last few years and I really enjoyed it both times. It has some really interesting ideas in it, and while its not exactly scary, there is a foreboding atmosphere that I like.

I think Exorcist II and III both have important places in the series; they both serve as direct sequels to the original, but in different ways. The Heretic is about picking up where Merrin left off, tracking Pazuzu and learning more about how and why it possesses people. Exorcist III is Karras' story, it takes us through what happened to his friends after his death and allows the character to come full circle from the first film. I'm glad I own them all, and I don't like to skip any of them come October.

It's a masterpiece. Part 3 is really good even though the actual exorcism is completely tacked on, I know there's a fan edit where they cut that out. I didn't care for Dominion, though.

I watched "Beyond the stars" from the first season of the X-Files yesterday and it's very clearly a tribute to Exorcist 3.

You might like X-Files: I Want to Believe also as like Exorcist III it has a supernatural serial killer thing going on. I still can't believe that movie was theatrically released the same day as The Dark Knight. There are even devoted X-Files fans who have no idea it even exists it was so thoroughly crushed.

All I think of when I think of "Exorcist II: The heretic" is that stupid overlay thing they did with possessed Regan from the first movie. Soooo dumb.....

Most of the swarming locusts are painted styrofoam packing peanuts with "legs" attached. They also attempted cutting the legs off many real locusts () so that they would continually swarm around a place instead of landing or walking around.

You might like X-Files: I Want to Believe also as like Exorcist III it has a supernatural serial killer thing going on. I still can't believe that movie was theatrically released the same day as The Dark Knight. There are even devoted X-Files fans who have no idea it even exists it was so thoroughly crushed.

Eh, we're watching season 1 now but I'll doubt we'll end up watching the whole series. This episode was nice because it actually starred Brad Douriff.

I remember not knowing a thing about Exorcist 2, watching it randomly and just thinking Linda Blair was the hottest thing on two legs. I wonder what the hell I was watching.

i dunno, Linda Blair was kinda smokin for a minute in the late 70s/early 80s.

anyway, the Exorcist is real good. i think a lot of people go through three stages with it: thinking it's a great horror movie, thinking it's an overrated horror movie, and realizing it's a great drama.

I love watching The Exorcist, but for whatever reason (probably that I had already absorbed so much of it through pop culture osmosis), by the time I got around to seeing it for the first time it had absolutely no impact as a horror film. It's hard for me to believe the stories of crowds losing their poo poo when it first hit theaters. Some of that was clearly hyped up to help market it, but clearly it really got to some people.

As a Jew, I wonder how much being a Christian, or especially having a Catholic upbringing enhances the experience.

As someone raised Catholic it definitely enhances it. When the movie was re-released in theaters (2002?) briefly it finally got the recognition it deserves as an outstanding drama as well as a really good horror movie. Vatican II had just happened recently when the movie was made, and there was a lot of conflict as to how relevant/irrelevant it would make the church and so on. I'm sure some theater reaction accounts were exaggerated for marketing, but most of the stories about the reaction to the movie in Rome are pretty much true.

One thing I do want to mention though to put into perspective, this was a few years before Star Wars and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, so the effects, and the way the coldness of the room and all of that is realized in the film's climax along with the little subliminal faces and stuff really was nuts at the time. I'm not going to say that like, special effects sucked until Star Wars came out but, in general, the quality of the movie's realization of its stuff (on top of it being delivered in a way it frankly never had been before in any movie), was crazy. For slightly younger viewers, it's comparable to Alien and Aliens in the massive impact it had on basically all of pop culture after its release. So I can definitely see how some of its impact as an effects and horror film can be limited.

It's extremely well shot too. One of the reasons for its ability to shock is that many of the more out there sequences in it like the spider walking, the "help me," and the head turning and the like are shot from the viewpoint of other characters in the room when a lesser director would have had them be more in the money shot way shock stuff is shown in a lot of horror movies today. But the way the camera cuts from something possibly happening to it just sort of being there is very effective and is a big part of the movie's dangerous atmosphere for me.

I saw that theatrical re-release of it twice, because the first time, somehow like 90% of the theater was kids just talking and laughing and stuff. I do want to mention though that when Pazuzu briefly appears as Jason Miller's mom asking why he killed her, and again the way it's shown from Miller's perspective, every single person in the theater was taken aback and was silenced briefly. The second time I saw it I caught it later at night so it was mostly adults and silent so I couldn't really gauge but I found that really interesting.

by the time I got around to seeing it for the first time it had absolutely no impact as a horror film. It's hard for me to believe the stories of crowds losing their poo poo when it first hit theaters. Some of that was clearly hyped up to help market it, but clearly it really got to some people.

It was a time where more people were focused on church/catholicism, etc. They literally lived with "the fear of god". So there is that.

Also, buzz is a big deal.

People talk about Blair Witch project and all the hype, and its laughable now. But at that time, found footage wasn't a big thing yet.
Being in line opening night at Blair Witch and hearing people in line literally saying things like
"This is a true story! They found this tape and poo poo!" and they really believed it...it was crazy. The buzz was out of loving control.

When I talk to my mom about the Exorcist (I wasn't QUITE born yet when it was in theaters) she basically says the buzz was similar.
Where she was brought up, people in her community/circle were churchgoing, god fearing people. So it really hit home. People couldn't handle it because how close to home it hit. Especially when you consider the parent aspect. HOW DO YOU PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN FROM SATAN!!! etc

Also special affects at the time were out of control. It looked real at the time. That helps.
On a similar note, I've had friends watch 2001: A Space Odyssey and they are like "That movie SUCKED!"
But when you consider it was 1968...that changes things...

I saw that theatrical re-release of it twice, because the first time, somehow like 90% of the theater was kids just talking and laughing and stuff.

I found this reaction amusing because while some of the kids doing that were trying to be hip, I believe that many or most of them were actually laughing in a defensive/nervous way in an attempt to disarm the experience for which many people of that age had no context for or previous experience of.

Similarly (I realize I talk about this all the time, sorry), if you see the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre theatrically my experience has been that when Leatherface pulls the girl into the room and slams that steel door shut, the ensuing silence (in that great beat that Hooper leaves after that happens) will probably be the audience first catching their breath and then a bunch of nervous laughter. Not the kind of laughter you experience at a comedy show, but genuine nervous laughter from a group.

InfiniteZero fucked around with this message at May 8, 2015 around 15:35